Pro-CAA rally in brew belt Around 2,000 people, mostly from tea gardens, marched from the Alipurduar court area to Chowpathy

UP CM Yogi Adityanath (C-L) Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya (C-R) and UP BJP President Swatantra Dev Singh (2nd R) during a rally in support of the amended Citizenship Act, in Varanasi, Saturday, January 18, 2020.PTI

TT,  Alipurduar,  19.01.20: The BJP got tea workers to hit the streets in Alipurduar on Saturday to campaign in favour of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, at a time the party is struggling to drum up support for the new law even in areas where it had swept the Lok Sabha polls last May.

Around 2,000 people, mostly from tea gardens, marched from the Alipurduar court area to Chowpathy, the most prominent crossing of the town.

“We want people to understand that the CAA will not harm anyone. Trinamul and other parties are misguiding people. We had tea workers and workers from some other sectors at the rally and they have spontaneously supported the CAA. We will soon organise door-to-door campaigns in the tea estates with the help of garden workers,” said Biplab Choudhury of the Bharatiya Janata Mazdoor Trade Union.

Trinamul leaders criticised the BJP for involving tea workers in the march.

“We have serious doubts whether the BJP leaders have at all apprised the tea workers who joined the march about the CAA,” said Mridul Goswami, the district Trinamul chief. Trinamul, he said, will launch a counter-campaign in the tea belt to explain the harmful effects of the CAA.